Despite the predictions of some haters *coughMr.Coopercough,* a handful of people actually did fall for yesterday's "Who Wants to Marry an Immigrant" post.
Unfortunately, most did not.
And that's understandable, not just because it's a pretty unbelievable and -- even though I swear I had never seen this before -- not strikingly original lie.
The problem is, I think, that April Fool's Day is overdone. Everyone knows it's coming, so nobody is ever fooled. Everyone is expected to do it, so we just go through the motions. Gawker calls us all unfunny clowns, essentially, and they surprisingly have a point.
They are, however, part of the problem. Because, through tweets, blogs, Facebook, or whathaveyou, everyone has an outlet now through which they try to half-heartedly prank someone.
And yes, I do mean half-heartedly. If I hadn't procrastinated so much, I would have set up a fake website for my show yesterday. Now, it probably wouldn't have fooled anyone, but maybe it would have given people pause. At the very least, I could have tried harder.
My point is simple. Go look at Facebook right now. Count how many people changed their relationship status. Dozens, right? Check how many people are suddenly "pregnant" or "have decided to drop out of school" or are "moving!!!! ZOMG!!!"
If everyone is in on the joke, there is no joke. Given the media and information blitz we get every waking second of every day, it's impossible not to be aware of it, and incredibly easy to participate in the charade.
Sadly, April Fool's has turned into the sort of thing where everyone goes through the motions for no reason. When even the Boston Globe gets into the act, publishing an almost offensively unfunny list of "pranks" as unoriginal as they are festooned with unnecessary exclamation points ("Put a cup of water on top of a door! Glue a quarter to the floor! Hilarious!!!"), the party is pretty much over.
So here's my proposal.
Stop having April Fool's on April 1st, and, instead, rotate months. This year it's April 1st, next year, May 1st, and so on. This way we avoid the regularity that has inured us and put us in a rut while also still being structured enough that you won't get arrested when you ask the guy at Home Depot if these garbage bags can fit a person about, oh, her size (points at woman).
It's still regular yet harder to keep track of. Yes, we'd need a new name (How about dumbass day?), but at least we would laugh again.
Because remember. You can't spell slaughter without laughter!
2 comments:
First of all, see my April Fools post this morning; when done right, pranking people is possible even though they're on their guard.
Second of all, I disagree with your proposal. Pranking people EVEN THOUGH they're expecting it is half the challenge.
If you wanna play with the big boys, stop whining and get to work.
I second Mr. Cooper.
I also point out that there were a HELLUVA lotta people who had NO IDEA/didn't remember at all that it was April 1st let alone April Fools Day.
So I now promise never to say I'm engaged unless it's the real thing since people thought I was telling the truth and I caused heart attacks, crying, and riots.
Post a Comment